Pages

Click for Translation

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

A Modern Explorer- Sophie Helenek

Sophie Helenek is a Modern Explorer who knows no bounds. We are fascinated by her drive, her astonishing accomplishments and her vibrant personality. Join us for an inspirational weekend April 10th and 11th.

Weekend Agenda: Start your weekend getting to know your fellow guests and Sophie at a wine and cheese reception Friday evening at the Inn. You will have the evening to yourself. We would be happy to help you with dinner recommendations or reservations. On Saturday afternoon we will host an open talk and question session at the Inn. At 5pm guests will go next door to the LaGrua Center where Sophie will talk about her Broad Peak and K2 ascent and answer questions from the audience. Guests are invited to join Sophie for dinner at the Stonington Harbor Yacht Club.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

My First Book series is the Creative Child Magazine BOOK OF THE YEAR 2014 for the Board Books for Babies & Toddlers category

Creative Child Magazine awards feature rigorous reviews by mothers and educators. In order to be picked for these awards, submissions have to stand out as products that will nurture children’s creativity. http://www.creativechild.com/toy-guide

Monday, August 25, 2014

My First Book Fruits, My First Book Musical Instruments, and My First Book Shapes is a recipient of the prestigious The Mom’s Choice Awards® Gold medal.

The Mom’s Choice Awards® (MCA) is an international awards program that honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services.

An esteemed panel of judges including educators, Emmy-winning media members, business experts, parents, children, New York Times Best-Selling authors, librarians, artists and others determines the winners.

Parents, educators, librarians and retailers look for the Mom’s Choice Awards Honoring Excellence seal of approval when selecting quality materials for children and families.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Final Thought: I really enjoyed this series. Not all board books are created equal. My First Book Series is an engaging group of books, that T loved. T is working on learning new words, and these books really stimulated his curiosity. I love that he asks to be read to now, and these have been our go to books the last several days. If you want to get these books, check them out on Amazon HERE

Thursday, March 6, 2014

7 Questions with Mountaineer Mom Sophie Helenek"Raising our baby girl is our new Everest."
You can call Sophie Helenek many things: a recovering investment banker, the youngest French woman to climb Mount Everest, and—as of 2013—a mother. But having her daughter wasn't going to terminate Helenek's six-year love affair with climbing. We caught up with Helenek via email to talk about staying active during pregnancy, exploring with babies, and her book series written for infants.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

NEW
BABY BOOK SERIES CONCEIVED FROM INFANTS PERSPECTIVE SUPPORTS SENSES AND
BONDING

Imagine the wonder as a mother’s face
becomes clear to a baby who has only heard her voice before? At birth, a
newborn’s vision is between 20/200 and 20/400; by eight months their acuity
improves to 20/30.Therefore, infants
reflexively prefer to look at high-contrast edges and patterns. So,
imagine their ongoing propensity to learn as their senses develop each
day.

New to bookshelves, the My First Book
series, by Sophie Helenek, includes
four delightful board books, specially dedicated to infant’s developmental
growth milestones.Each of the four
books, FRUITS, SKY WONDERS, SHAPES and MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS include high
contrast, black and white and bold color illustrations which promote visual and
speech stimulation. Each picture is accompanied by a simple word that your
bundle of joy will love repeating and which will help their speech development.
They are not just picture books or bedtime stories but rather activity books
conceived to stimulate a baby’s senses.

“These books are not for parents, they are for their
beautiful babies—to learn and to grow,” says Helenek.“I wanted to provide parents a way to
captivate, interact and bond with their baby that also aids in the child’s
developmental growth.” Learn more, visit www.nurserybooks.net

Monday, February 3, 2014

Reading a novel can make real, physical changes to your brain, according to research from Emory University. For two weeks, study participants read sections of a novel in the evenings, then had their brains scanned in the morning to track structural changes. Researchers found increased connectivity in areas of the brain associated with receptivity to language, as well as motor areas — which may explain why it can feel like you’re transported into the body of a character.

“The neural changes that we found associated with physical sensation and
movement systems suggest that reading a novel can transport you into the body of
the protagonist,” Berns says. “We already knew that good stories can put you in
someone else’s shoes in a figurative sense. Now we’re seeing that something may
also be happening biologically.”

Researchers believe that the increased connectivity is lasting, like a muscle memory, since these effects were still seen days after the novel was finished. Is there a novel that’s made a big impact on your brain?

Friday, January 31, 2014

Adding a plant to your workspace could boost your cognition and help you be more productive. Two recent studies found that participants performed better at attention tasks while seated at a desk surrounded by plants and flowers than while seated at an empty desk. These findings add to past research showing the benefits nature can have on cognition. Researchers believe that because nature engages our minds in an effortless way, it offers our brains a micro-restorative break from tasks — like working — that require us to pay direct attention. Do you have plants near your work station, or do you have a view of nature from your desk?

Saturday, January 25, 2014

No matter how many friends you have on Facebook, the number of truly close friends you can maintain throughout your life may be hardwired. Researchers logged the phone calls of teenagers transitioning out of high school and into either the workforce or college for 18 months. Even as the teens made new friends, the structure of their social circles remained the same: if they had four close friends at the beginning of the study, they had four at the end of the study as well -- though not always the same four friends. Each of us appears to have an individual “social signature” that determines how much time and emotional capital we have to expend on our friends. Has the number of close friends you have remained constant over time?